THE BOULEVARDS, 



115 



upon a far-seeing and systematic plan^ so that during the future 

 existence of the city overcrowding of its parts must become 

 almost an impossibility. Many visitors who stroll along the 

 fashionable and crowded boulevards of central Paris, who see 

 them running in all directions from the Arc de Triomphe and 

 offering bold approaches to every important position, may 

 yet have but a meagre idea of their vast extent in the back- 

 ward and less known regions of the city. The elm-bordered 

 .Boulevards Sebastopol and St. Michel cut through Paris 

 from north to south, running miles in a straight line, and 

 on their way effectually opening up the old Latin and many 

 ^ other close quarters; but beyond their outer extremities 

 and between the fortifications and the central districts still 

 larger boulevards sweep round, wide enough to be planted 

 with groves of trees and to permit the breeze to play freely 

 through, no matter how high and thickly the buildings may 

 be raised for years to come. Immediately within the forti- 

 fications there is a wide boulevard running round the city 

 (Tinder various names for many miles, while from every 

 circular open space— like the Place du Trone^ Place du 

 Trocadero, Place d'ltalie, or Place de TEtoile— they radiate 

 like a star. In fact the whole of the space within the 

 fortifications is netted over by them, and, instead of the 

 outer and less frequented boulevards being narrower than 

 the central ones, they are often much wider. In many 

 instances these outer boulevards pass through parts but 

 thinly or not at all populated, so that the buildings to 

 which the future is sure to give rise cannot encroach upon 

 the space necessary for the free circulation of air and 

 traffic. 



The architectm-e that borders the boulevards in the most im- 

 portant and populous districts has often been objected to, and 

 I with justice, as formal and not in any way attractive. But 

 I this cannot, except with the most thoughtless, pass for any 

 objection to the creation of open, tree-embellished streets. 

 I The greenest and sweetest of gardens may be quickly 

 rendered hideous by somebody with a taste for pottery, 

 plaster, or geometrical twirlings on the ground, but this is 

 clearly not the fault of the garden. The varied archi-^ 



I 



